Pat Robertson: Islam isn’t a religion; treat Muslims like fascists

Conservative commentators are ratcheting up anti-Muslim rhetoric in the wake of last week’s Fort Hood massacre, with televangelist Pat Robertson leading the way with a declaration that Islam is “not a religion,” but a “political system” bent on destroying all the world’s governments.

In a commentary on his show, The 700 Club, Robertson noted that the alleged shooter in the Fort Hood massacre, Nidal Malik Hasan, had come to the attention of authorities prior to the rampage by emailing a radical cleric and trying to contact Al Qaeda.

“Nobody wanted to go after him because of political correctness,” Robertson said on Monday. “We just don’t talk about somebody’s quote ‘religion,’ even if the religion involved beheading infidels and pouring boiling oil down their throats.”

Robertson said Islam should be treated like a fringe political movement.

“If we don’t stop covering up what Islam is … Islam is a violent — I was going to say religion, but it’s not a religion, it’s a political system, it’s a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination,” Robertson said. “You’re dealing with not a religion, you’re dealing with a political system, and I think we should treat it as such, and treat its adherents as such as we would members of the communist party, members of some fascist group.”

Robertson pointed the finger of blame at the US military, suggesting that the families of the 12 killed and 30 wounded have a strong case for suing the Pentagon.

“Those in the Army should be held to account for the fact they let this man loose,” Robertson said.

This is not the first time that Robertson has aired controversial views about an act of violence on American soil. In 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Robertson agreed with fellow preacher Jerry Falwell that the attacks were God’s punishment for the US allowing abortion and homosexuality.

“I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America … I point the finger in their face and say you helped this happen,” Falwell said, to which Robertson replied: “I totally concur.”

Both evangelists issued apologies for their statements later.

ORLY TAITZ: ‘BLIND OBEDIENCE’ TO MILITARY CAUSED FORT HOOD MASSACRE

But Robertson’s theme this week — that the military is to blame for not preventing the massacre — has been echoed by numerous right-wing pundits. As David Weigel reported at the Washington Independent, “birther” lawyer Orly Taitz is arguing that the Fort Hood massacre is evidence that soldiers should be allowed to disobey orders.

Taitz is the lawyer who has spearheaded a number of largely unsuccessful lawsuits challenging Barack Obama’s legitimacy as president on the argument that Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States. She was behind the release of the now-discredited “Kenyan birth certificate” for the president.

In an appeal of a federal court’s decision to dismiss one of her lawsuits, Taitz wrote:

Recent terrorist incident at Fort Hood has given this question paramount importance. This order has advocated blind obedience by the members of the military. If someone were to have common sense, brains and strength of character to challenge allegiance of Nidal Malik Hasan in court, after he made numerous anti-American and antimilitary statements, maybe 12 young boys wouldn’t be 6 feet under today, maybe 12 mothers and 12 fathers wouldn’t had their hearts ripped out of their chests and torn apart.

And the author of a recent book claiming that the US’s largest Muslim advocacy group is trying to plant “spies” on Capitol Hill now says the Fort Hood massacre proves it’s time for a “backlash” against Muslims.

In an interview with FamilySecurityMatters.org, Dave Gaubatz, co-author of Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Seeking to Islamize America, said it’s time to make a “bonfire” out of the terrorist materials he says are circulating in mosques.

“This was not an isolated incident,” Gaubatz told the Web site:

Maj. Hasan (allegedly) did what he was taught. Politicians, Muslims, and law enforcement are concerned about a ‘backlash’ against Muslims. Now is the time for a professional and legal backlash against the Muslim Brotherhood and their leaders. … If Muslims do not want a backlash, then I would recommend a “house cleaning.” Stack every Saudi, al Qaeda, Pakistani, Taliban, Hamas, and Muslim Brotherhood piece of material from their mosque and have a bonfire. Tell the American, Jewish, and Muslim community this hatred will no longer be allowed in their mosques.

Last month, four Republican House representatives called for an investigation into claims in Gaubatz’s book that the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim advocacy group in Washington, is trying to use the congressional intern program as a way to plant “Muslim spies” on Capitol Hill. That notion was met with derision and ridicule from CAIR, which said that Gaubatz used his son to steal private documents from the group, and that the documents showed nothing more than typical lobbying activities by CAIR.

On Monday, a federal judge ordered Gaubatz to remove some of the 12,000 pages of CAIR documents he had posted to his Web site. The judge supported CAIR’s claims that the documents were “unlawfully obtained.”

The following video was broadcast on The 700 Club, November 9, 2009, and uploaded to the Web by MediaMatters.